Bottle and can recyclers in
New York are expanding their
operations and hiring new employees
following changes to the state’s
beverage container deposit law.

The state’s Returnable Container
Act – commonly referred to as
the “Bottle Bill” – now requires
a $.05 deposit for water bottles
in addition to carbonated soft
drinks, beer and other malt
beverage containers after legislators
amended the law this spring.

“This will have a huge impact
on redemption centers across
the state,” said Sheila Rivers,
chairperson of the Bottle and
Can Redemption Association in
New York. Rivers is also the
owner of EZ Bottle and Can Return
in Fairport, New York. She said
that centers like hers will
be investing in new equipment
and expanding their facilities.

“We will be growing, expanding,
and new redemption centers will
be opening. We will be creating
hundreds, if not thousands of
new jobs,” Rivers said. There
are currently more than 300
private and non-profit redemption
centers in the state.

The expanded bottle bill also
increases the handling fee for
recycling bottles and cans from
$.02 to $.035 cents per container.
Rivers said that the increase
is critical to the survival
of the redemption centers and
will enable recyclers to hire
new workers to handle the expected
increase in returns. There has
not been an increase since 1997.

The first major revision of
the state’s deposit law since
it was created in 1982 also
requires beverage companies
to return 80 percent of the
unclaimed bottle and can deposits
to the state. This is expected
to generate $115 million for
the state’s general fund for
this fiscal year. The remaining
20 percent will be kept by the
beverage industry.

With nearly 2.5 billion bottles
of water sold each year, making
up an estimated 23 percent of
the beverage sales in New York,
the state is anticipating a
boost in recycling. “There will
be a significant increase in
the number of beverage containers
requiring a deposit,” said Val
Washington, deputy commissioner
for remediation and materials
management with the New York
State Department of Environmental
Conservation.

“In addition to directing all
of these water bottles into
the recycling stream, the deposit
will also result in a significant
reduction in litter.” The state
estimates that in the 27 years
that the bottle bill has been
in existence it has reduced
roadside litter by 70 percent,
recycled 90 billion containers,
and saved more than 52 million
barrels of oil.

Environmentalists are also praising
the addition of water bottles
to the state’s deposit law.
“This expansion covers about
70 percent of the containers
we were looking to cover,” said
Saima Anjam, a program associate
at Environmental Advocates of
New York. She said her group
was hoping the addition would
include all non-carbonated beverages.
But it only covers water, nutritionally-enhanced
and flavored waters.

Before the expansion of New
York’s deposit law, less than
20 percent of water bottles
were recycled in the state,
according to estimates by Laura
Haight, senior environmental
associate at the New York Public
Interest Research Group. “With
the expansion of the state’s
bottle bill we expect the recycling
rate to triple or quadruple,”
Haight said, noting that return
rates for bottle bills average
just under 70 percent.

Haight said that she expects
others states will follow New
York’s lead and include water
bottles in their deposit programs.
“New York is a very large state
and it is going to cause a ripple
effect throughout the industry,”
she said. “It is certainly energizing
advocates in other states that
are working to either create
or expand bottle bills.”

Eleven states have bottle bills.
While some include water, like
Maine, Hawaii, Oregon and California,
others do not, like Iowa and
Michigan. Connecticut expanded
its bottle bill to cover non-carbonated
water earlier this spring. Bottled
water in Connecticut now carries
a $.05 deposit and unclaimed
deposits are now returned to
the state.

“The details of the different
laws are quite different. But
I think this is showing that
states with bottle laws are
recognizing the need of updating
their laws to reflect the public’s
current drinking habits,” Haight
said. “Many times the strongest
environmental laws get passed
first by states and are then
the tipping point for national
action.”

The Sonoma, California-based
trade group, the National Association
for PET Container Resources,
takes a neutral stand on bottle
bills. “We support anything
that will bring bottles back
from the waste stream,” said
Dennis Sabourin, executive director.
“But we don’t specifically support
water bottles. We feel that
it is part of an overall program
that would include drop offs,
curbside collection programs,
and of course bottle bills.”

Since there are currently a
number of different plans to
include water bottles in bottles
bills across the country that
are being considered by state
legislatures, the United States
could end up with a different
recycling system for each state,
Sabourin said.

Therefore, a national bill might
be an option to consider. “Could
it be something that would give
a uniform system and something
where all stakeholders could
weigh in on the issue to make
sure that it is the best compromise
for all stakeholders? There
is something to be said about
that,” he said, again stressing
his group’s neutral stance.

Other trade groups are opposed
to bottle bills. The International
Bottled Water Association, based
in Alexandria, Virginia, claims
bottle bills create disincentives
for curbside recycling efforts
by giving consumers a financial
incentive not to put their empty
bottles into curbside recycling
and forcing them to return bottles
to stores.

The American Beverage Association,
based in Washington D.C., also
opposes efforts, like in New
York, to expand bottle bills.
“In an economy like this, the
last thing government should
be doing is raising taxes,”
the group said in a statement.
The trade group estimates the
New York deposit fee equals
a 25 percent sales tax on water.